Projects Page 2012-2013

  1. Home
  2. Digital Citizenship
  3. experimental design page
  4. Personal Learning Network
  5. Resources
  6. Step 1 Brainstorming a Question
  7. Step 2 Variables and Hypotheses
  8. Step 3 Design Your Experiment
  9. Step 4 Plan your experiment
  10. Step 5 Do your experiment
  11. Step 6 Background
  12. Step 7 Analyze Your Data
  13. Step 8 What does it mean?
  14. Step 9 Prepare for Presentation
  15. Tutorials



Archives
Projects 2011-2012

Schools
Kennett Middle School
Josiah Bartlett School

Teachers
  1. For Teachers
  2. Project Overview
  3. rubrics

marr-tem4

Edit 0 16 …

Encryption

data-encryption.jpg

Is there a science to Encryption?


Can a person get into an encrypted file faster using the dictionary method or "fake" password method?


Independent Variable: Time

Dependent Variable: Method


Variables That Need To Be Controlled:

1. Location
2. Folder contents
3.Spelling
4. Person
5. Dictionary
6. Directions

Hypothesis

I hypothesize that The dictionary method will be a faster method to get into the encrypted folder than the "fake" password method.


Graph of Hypothesis

Marr-hypothisis_graph.JPG

Experimental Design


My experiment will be conducted on my laptop, so really anywhere I am with my laptop. I will do the experiment on my own, but I might need a friend or two. I think I might need to do at least 5 Trials to get reliable data. While I conduct my experiment I will record the data on a printed out spread sheet. I will put pictures of the process and folders on the wiki.

Materials list


    • Laptop/Computer
    • Free version of 7-ZIP
    • 10-20 folders with the same content
    • Spread Sheet
    • Pencil
    • Snip-it program
    • Timer
    • Knowledge on 2 different methods of decryption
    • Dictionary
    • Friend

mail.jpg

Procedure


    • Get onto Laptop/Computer
    • Download (if not already downloaded) 7-ZIP file archiver
    • Create 10 folders in Documents
    • Put the same contents in folders
    • Open 7-ZIP
    • Find folders
    • Encrypt 5 folders using a word in the dictionary leave 5 not encrypted (Use an easy password for the encryption, should be in lower case to make it easier)
    • Tell your friend that they will need to use the dictionary (the one you used to find the password) and try every word until they get into the folder
    • Time how how long it takes
    • Record
    • Change password using another word close to the first and close to the same length
    • Re-peat 7-12 5 times
    • Change to next method create a password the same length of the first password
    • Tell your friend to create a ___ letter long word using _ and _ letters and some more of their choosing all lower case, Timing them starts when they start to plan the password
    • Have them type their password in, if fails, tell them to do a different word using directions from step 15 until they can get in
    • If step 15-16 succeeds, type in a different password and repeat 15-16
    • Repeat 15-17 5 times changing the password when a success and Record each time.
nbjki;lbk.jpg

Data Table

data_tabe_marr.JPG


Background Research

Doing my background research I learned how to recover passwords in different ways. For example the Dictionary method which uses a dictionary and you have to type in every word until you crack the password. Anyone form Governments to people at home use Encryption on passwords and other files and also internet passwords. I learned about block ciphers called Tiny Encryption Algorithm's, these are known for their simple description and implementation.
As I was looking though websites I read a part of an article that explained a symmetric key. A symmetric key is when two different computers have the same encryption code and therefor they will be able to communicate through that.

References

"Password Recovery Methods." Password recovery software. Advanced office password recovery and security tools by LastBit.com. N.p., n.d. Web. 10 Feb. 2012. <http://lastbit.com/password-recovery-methods.asp>.

"Encryption - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia." Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. N.p., n.d. Web. 26 Jan. 2012. <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Encryption>.

"Tiny Encryption Algorithm." Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation, 26 Feb. 2012. Web. 27 Feb. 2012. <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tiny_Encryption_Algorithm>.


HowStuffWorks. Web. 27 Feb. 2012. <http://computer.howstuffworks.com/encryption2.htm>.


mail-2.jpg


Conclusion


The original purpose of this experiment was to see if there was a science to encryption and decryption, and if there was how could you measure it? The results of the experiment were not very good. I do think there is a science to encryption, but its just trying to measure it that didn't work. The experiment just ended up as a lesson on how to use shortcuts on the computer and how to properly look through the dictionary. By the time I finished the first method it was apparent that the second would not work, therefore I decided that I was not going to do it.

Data Table

Marr-realdataresults.jpg

Graphs





Photos

p1nj;o.jpg

mail-1.jpg



Data Analysis


Discussion

My hypothesis was can a person get into an encrypted file faster using the dictionary method or "fake" password method? Unfortunately my results did not support my hypothesis. I could not tell if there was a relationship because the experiment was so rocky I has to give more information than needed to do the experiment. Over all it is not a realistic experiment to do.